Hey there, I’m Damon Wise. I’m a chef working & living in Atlanta.

Helene Dujardin

Giovanni Capriano / The New York Times

Eater / Sauvage

About

Damon Wise, a Baltimore native, traces his earliest culinary influences to childhood summers spent on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. He learned to fish with his grandfather, a lifelong waterman, and looked on as his grandmother prepared home-cooked meals with their catch-of-the-day and fresh garden produce. It was a ritual that began Wise’s passion for good food and was his first exposure to the idea of cooking with seasonal ingredients.

In the early years of his career, Wise honed his culinary skills working at some of the nation’s top restaurants, including five-star luxury resort The Greenbrier in West Virginia, and Georges Perrier’s Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia. Afterwards, Wise landed in New York for a position at Tom Colicchio's Gramercy Tavern before moving on to cook under Laurent Tourondel at Cello and Christian Delouvier at Lespinasse. To build on his solid foundation of French cooking technique, Wise then traveled to France to refine his skills as a stagiaire at celebrated Paris restaurants Taillevent and Apicius.

Upon returning to New York, he accepted the position of chef de cuisine at Colicchio's newly opened Craft. Wise worked alongside Colicchio to capture the flavors of the seasons with locally sourced pristine ingredients as the basis for the bold, clean dishes that characterized the cooking at Craft. After three years as chef de cuisine, Wise was promoted to executive chef of Craft Restaurants in 2007, a position he held for nearly five years. During that time, Wise was at the forefront of an emerging scene of pop-up restaurants with Damon: Frugal Friday, a temporary restaurant in the private dining room adjacent to Craft serving small plates, snacks and beverages at recession-friendly prices. The project earned three stars from New York Magazine.

During his tenure at Craft, Wise oversaw the openings of Craftbar in New York and Craft restaurants in Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta. In 2010, Wise oversaw the transition of Craftsteak in New York to Colicchio & Sons, earning the restaurant three stars in The New York Times.

Wise was recruited to reimagine the menu at Graydon Carter’s storied Monkey Bar in 2011. As executive chef, The New York Times awarded Monkey Bar two stars, applauding Wise’s focus on fresh, seasonal cooking paired with classic technique and distinctly American style.

In 2012, chef Andrew Carmellini enlisted Wise as chef de cuisine of French brasserie, Lafayette. During his time at the acclaimed large-scale all-day eatery, Wise was deemed a detail-oriented “ace technician” by The New York Times for his thoughtful, precise execution of pan-regional French fare.

When the opportunity arose in 2014 to become a partner in a multi-restaurant project in Charleston, SC, Wise made the move down south to develop Scarecrow and Co. Housed in a historic train shed in downtown Charleston, Wise-Buck Smoked Meats opened in 2016, offering the burgeoning restaurant town a creative look at traditional barbecue. Soon to follow, Feathertop opened next, offering elegant, yet simple vegetable-focused fare inspired by the long, abundant growing season in the South. Both the Post & Courier and Charleston City Paper praised Wise’s impressively accomplished cooking.

Returning to New York in late 2016, Wise took over the kitchens at acclaimed establishments Sauvage and Maison Premiere in Brooklyn, showcasing his continued commitment to honoring ingredients with simple, elegant dishes.

In 2017, Wise joined chef Linton Hopkins as the culinary director of Resurgens Hospitality in Atlanta, overseeing a large operation that includes Restaurant Eugene, Holeman and Finch Public House, C. Ellet's, H+F Burger, Hop's Chicken and Eugene Kitchen, a commissary producing more than 700 meals a day for Atlanta-based Delta Airlines.

Wise is currently a Vice President at Ford Fry Restaurants, overseeing a collection of popular restaurants for the prolific group in Atlanta, Nashville and Houston. A graduate of West Virginia University and Baltimore International Culinary College, in his free time, Damon enjoys cycling, live music, and cooking barbecue with the Ribdiculous Bar-B-Krewe, a competitive barbecue team he formed in 2008 with chef Shane McBride and a crew of professional chefs.

Chelsea Warlick / Charleston Magazine

Mark Jordan

Mark Jordan

Experience

With more than 20 years of experience operating and building restaurants, I've cooked at some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the US. I've opened nearly 20 restaurants and taken part in everything from kitchen design to menu development to training and management. Built on a foundation of French training and technique, I am inspired by nearly every cuisine (and my large collection of cookbooks) though some might say my style could be classified as American farm-to-table. My central focus is always on developing deep relationships with farmers and producers, using the highest quality ingredients and allowing them to shine.